Friday, December 29, 2006

I've been enabled! After being enticed to go on a shop shop with my so-called stitching friends, I have been lured into the world of hand-dyed merino and alpaca wool! Who knew this stuff could be so addicting? One soft touch of an aloe vera treated ball of sock yarn was all it took. Have I no willpower at all? Obviously not if you could have seen the balls of lovely self patterning wool that have now made up my newly formed Yarn Stash. And of course I had to treat myself to a set of Brittney needles, a set of 5, to further along my habit.

But this habit can't last too long....only a few days left to New Year's Day and my resolution - no more Stash buying! I'm starting up the wagon .... No pattern buying until something is finished. Of course that goes along with my other resolutions - eating healthier, exercising more, and any other bad habits of mine that I can think of and are really far too many to list here.

Sunday, December 24, 2006

One more day to go! The big day is just arriving too quickly and I want to just sit back and savour every moment.

I have been away from the computer as we were having serious internet troubles the past couple of days and I wasn't able to load anything, blogs or otherwise. So I'm afraid I'm far behind in blog reading and commenting. That will have to wait now until things get a little quieter after Christmas.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

And here it is ~ my Prairie Schooler Country Seasons Round Robin ~ its back, just in time for Christmas! I am absolutely in love with this RR, it turned out just awesome! And now I can't wait to get it framed, and join another RR on the Robin's Nest! Thank you so much Vash, Lynn and Anne, who did such fantastic stitching.

I'm not quite ready for Christmas yet, but getting there. I still have some last minute wrapping to do and hope to find some time later this afternoon to get it done....before Kelly and Chris arrive. They are on the road now for their 12-14 hour trip. Ugh, that's an awful long ride!

I finally picked up my poor neglected Houses of Hawk Run Hollow and have put some stitches in the past couple of nights. I really love working on this and it makes me wonder why I've left it for so long. I hope to get a progress picture up soon.

And I have also been planning my Pay-it-Forwards for the new year and already have decided on 2 specific things to work on. Hopefully I'll be able to get these done in the winter and mailed out to Sharon , Vonna, Cindy, Su, and Rachel.

Beta blogger has not been cooperating again with my commenting on other blogs. I hope Blogger gets these little kinks worked out soon! But I finally was able to log in to the Monthly Ornament Blog that Nicki set up. This is a SAL for the fourth weekend of the month to work on ornaments and hopefully keep us working on some ornaments so we don't end up in December with no Christmas stitching having been done (like me :-( Anyone else want to join in?

Monday, December 18, 2006

The big countdown is here - one week to go! And my shopping is done, just a little wrapping left to go.

I got my Christmas bonus last night and I really had a moment's hesitation before I opened the envelope....since I had already spent it, anticipating the amount I would get. I have never done that before and after spending years making the typical 'mother' comments, don't count your chickens and all that....I wondered if I had jumped the gun and overspent. So it was great relief that I felt when I saw it was the same amount as last year. Phew! I can now start stalking the mailman for the Mystery X kit from European Cross Stitch.

I had a nice little post last week about my taking the plunge and ordering Mystery X from Chatelaine and the kit from ECC. Even included a cool picture of all the silkies in the kit that I had snatched from their site. But Blogger decided it didn't like this post. For some weird reason, that particular post made my template go kerflewy. Even when I deleted the picture part of the post, it still pushed all my posts to the bottom of the blog. So I had no choice to delete it. Hopefully these little kinks will all get worked out soon. I think I'm able to start commenting again. Last week I ended up giving up on those also, since my comments were either published over and over or didn't show up at all, once Blogger forced me to re-register over and over.

And the countdown is on for Kelly and Chris - they arrive sometime on Wednesday night from North Carolina. They will be here for 10 whole days!!!

Saturday, December 16, 2006

My little girl is 21 years old today! I had to include a picture of her very first birthday party so here's a picture of her and I 20 years ago. Looking back at that, its hard to believe that much time has gone by and Kelly has fully grown in a beautiful young woman. Okay, okay, no more sentimental stuff here, Mom's are too good for that. I'll save it for when I see her in person!

And here is a picture of Kelly (on the right) last Christmas with Carrie and me. I love the family shots we had done last Christmas. It was actually a Christmas present for hubby but I think the pictures of all our family are something that we all treasure.

Friday, December 15, 2006

I finished up the latest exchange for the our Guild Christmas Tree RR. This is Cindy's and she wanted a more traditional theme with bright colours. Easy to find a little pattern huh? Not in any of the numerous JCS ornie issues that I have stockpiled. I had to revert to pulling out some of my C/S books and finally found something in a Donna Kooler book called 555 Christmas designs.

I decided on the pine bough with the 3 ornies and got these stitched and finished in the evening, so its ready to hand off at our Christmas party next week. I'm so anxious to see how mine is coming along, I chose Celtic Knots as my theme. We're not to see them until the finish and they have already been handed off 3 times.

I took apart my poor doggie ornie and as I thought there is minimal fabric left at the corners, as I had trimmed these when I put it together. I have to admit the picture looked better than he did in R/L, think of a stitched piece framed very wrinkled and not stretched well, and that's what it looked like with a too small piece of mat board stuck inside the ornie. So thanks for the great ideas - I think he's going to be finished into a little pillow instead. But if I have time...and the inclination for more stitching....I found 2 more similar style ornies in my JCS issues. One has a bunny and a tree, and the other a kitty and a tree. I still have the same gray linen that I used...another thought I had was to stitch the 2 new ones and make the 3 into a banner. Would look cute, eh?

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

I found this ornie buried at the bottom of a box of Christmas things. I actually stitched it about 4 years ago for my son Nick. But I was definitely in an ornament-finishing funk at the time as I really did an awful job with it.

I originally tried to finish it with mat board and glue and ended up chopping the fabric around the edge far too short and I faintly remember throwing something into the snow in the yard after I burned my fingers one too many times. So I finally just sewed an envelope style ornie, filled it with piece of mat board (not large enough) and some quilt batting, and the result is a really messy little thing. Its also far too big to hang on the Christmas tree as its about 4 1/2" x 5".

But I feel guilty with this little doggy, I really should try something new with it but I have a feeling there is very little fabric left around the edge any more. Any thoughts?

Friday, December 08, 2006

Brrr, its chilly out there today -13 C but bright and clear. Luckily the forecast doesn't have this deep chill lasting too long and by Sunday the temp will be back up to 6 C. Crazy weather!

And crazy time of year ~ I have big plans this weekend for finishing up my Christmas cards, wrapping presents, and some more shopping. And we have hubby's Christmas party on Saturday night.

Meanwhile I've made a little progress on my present for my boss Lynda. I make her something every year and she is very appreciative which makes it even more enjoyable to do. This is what I have on the go right now, its a small bellpull called Happy Snow Days from an older issue of Cross Stitch Collection.

Thursday, December 07, 2006

It was time for a change to my blog template, Autumn is definitely over and although the outside isn't completely snow-covered yet....the ground is frozen and there has been frost and a light dusting of snow the past few mornings. Winter is a-comin'.....

And so is Christmas! For which I haven't done much of anything except to get our house decorated and the stockings up. Work has been crazy busy the past 2 weeks and one of our full-timers is off cruising her merry way around the Caribbean right now, so that means even more work. I'm hoping my poor arms will hold out!

I took a couple of pictures of stockings I made a couple of years ago. Bad mum that I am, I haven't stitching stockings for everyone...yet ;-D

I think I'll be posting pictures of Christmas things I have made in the past as my turbo needles have finally run out of octane. I don't think I'll have much of a chance for any stitching until the holidays come.

Did I mention I have a week off at Christmas? and that Kelly and Chris are coming home for the holidays!!!!!!!

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

This is Lynn's completed Lizzie Kate round robin. I finished off Spring the other night, after Lynn (Autumn), Vash (Summer) and Anne (Winter) did their sections. It came out lovely and I think Lynn will be happy with it.

Sorry for the wrinkles in the picture, but this little piece has certainly done its fair share of travelling and has a wee bit more to do before it gets back home.

This is the last RR from the Robin's Nest to be done for this group and we're done. There are some new exchanges starting up and I think a new RR will be starting in the new year. If anyone is interested in joining, please click on the link.

And meanwhile I've started stitching on a Christmas giftie for my boss. Pics to follow....

Monday, December 04, 2006

Do you know these clowns? Well the one on the left is my son, Nick, and the other his buddy Ian, who took part in the local Santa Claus parade this past Saturday. It was a chilly morning with the temperature hovering around the freezing mark but they still managed to hand out their fair share of candy canes to all the kiddies watching the parade.

Meanwhile at home, it was a busy weekend, with some house cleaning and decluttering, finally getting some drapes hung in my living/dining rooms, and valances, which were taken down the next day - didn't like 'em! And the house is looking ever so festive with our Christmas tree and decorations put up.

And the dragons, and castles and knights? Well I kept dreaming about them last night, after several games of Carcassonne over Saturday and Sunday. Carrie and JF brought it home after a game's night at a friends and introduced the rest of the family. I'm definitely hooked, or I should say, we are all hooked! There goes my stitching time!